Yes, Lady Gaga’s Meat Dress Was Made Of Real Meat

There’s been a debate — both here in the Styleite offices and in other stylish corners of the Internet — as to whether the dress Lady Gaga wore to accept her Video of the Year award at last night’s VMAs was actually made out of meat. We hemmed and hawed all day long, saying, “No — she wouldn’t actually sit in an auditorium full of people clothed entirely in rotting meat. It would stink!” or “Look at the pictures, and zoom in. There’s no way that’s fabric.”

It turns out, the yes-it-is-too-meat camp was right. Franc Fernandez, who made the piece, posted pictures of the dress as a work in progress to his blog, and later toldMTV Style that he made it with meat from his family’s local butcher.

But does the fact that the meat was locally sourced make the dress any more ethical or friendly? For vegetarians and vegans, probably not. We wrote earlier that the Lady told talk show host Ellen Degeneres that she didn’t mean to offend, but instead intended to make the statement that she is not a piece of meat.

Still, it’s hard to cope with the idea that she sat around for half an hour in skirt made of skirt steak. We love her thoughtful commentary on society sand pop culture, but no matter how rad her dress and shoes (and her bejeweled meat purse and chapeau) were, our minds are wrapped around the sanitation and the smell.

Ew.

Click here to cast your vote on whether or not you like the dress, and be sure to tell us what you think about it actually being real in the comments.